Telcos rely on social media to hire talent

 Prakash Mehra, a 39-year-old telecom professional, was looking for a change and sent his resume to several companies. He got a call one morning from a human resources (HR) executive at a potential employer, who said his LinkedIn profile did not match his CV and that he needed to update it. Mehra eventually got the job. 

HR executives at telecom companies are increasingly using social media sites Facebook and Twitter, apart from professional networks such as LinkedIn, as reference points in the recruitment process. According to analysts, hiring through social media is expected to grow by more than 50% this year from 2013.

A critical factor behind this trend is generation-next's comfort and adaptability with social media, says Ashok Ramchandran, Vodafone India's HR director. 

MTS India, the Indian unit of Russia's Sistema JSFC, recruited 40% of its employees through the social media this year, up from 22% in 2013, according to Tarun Katyal, the company's chief HR officer. Other hiring channels used by MTS include 29% through referrals, 24% through direct recruitments and 7% through external consultants. The company has over 2,000 employees. 

The availability of profiles of people on websites allows employers to get to know a lot about candidates before an interaction, according to Amit Das, HR head at Reliance Communications, the fourth-largest telecom operator in the country, which has about 9,000 employees. 

Experts say that this gives employers a fair chance to review how well a candidate will fit into the organisational culture, which is a critical factor in talent retention. Updated statuses and work profiles on network sites provide recruiters information that helps them to reach out to the right people for a specific job, they add. 

"Benefits with using social media are the availability of a large pool of professionals, easy references and acknowledgements, cost savings and ability to do analysis and an ability to find trends in hiring," says Anne Birgitte Kverum, Uninor's HR head. 

Other advantages include identifying candidates for succession planning, building employee engagement, due diligence on prospective recruits and also finding ways of building job roles and responsibilities in keeping with trends and industry alignments, she added. 

There is also a branding element involved in social media hiring. 

"When companies hire through social media, it allows them to promote their employer's brand through this tool," says Shiv Agrawal, founder of HeadHonchos.com. Sandeep Gandhi, Aircel's chief HR officer, agrees. 

Telecom sector's hiring increased 36% in August from a year earlier, according to the Naukri Job Speak Index. 

As the telecom sector matures, hiring in the industry is expected to re main fairly healthy over the next few quarters, Agrawal says, adding that 4G technology and Reliance Jio Infocomm's entry will lead to surge in recruitments. 

"Reliance Jio is propelling hiring to some extent but they are also poaching talent from other telecom companies. Absolutely boom days are probably behind us, but telecom will be an evergreen sector for some time," he added. 

The emergence of 4G technology, a standard for high-speed data transfer, is already changing the recruiting pattern in the country as it requires new skill sets, according to T Muralidharan, Chairman of TMI Group, a talent acquisition services provider."Existing telcos will have to consolidate, which is a downer for hiring.However, 4G technology will attract a new set of people, which is a big plus for recruitment," he said. 

According to TimesJobs.com, software, sales and business development, hardware, operations and customer services and engineering project management are the top five departments in the IT/telecom sector that are hiring telecom professionals.

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IT firms expanding to smaller cities and semi-rural towns

 Infrastructure limits and scarcity of land in tier-1 IT cities has led to expansion towards smaller cities and semi-rural towns over the last few years. Venturing into these locations is also helping companies in rural sourcing to stay ahead and meet the ever growing talent war.

With social media exploding, cloud computing making deeper inroads and mobile technology becoming a necessity, we will see a pressing need for employees with skills in data programming or administration and mobile development. Tirupati Balaji, director- talent acquisition, UST Global talks to TimesJobs.com about major recruitment trends in the IT services and solutions sector. 

Recruitment Trends

Market forces and rapidity of technology commands how companies make their hiring decisions and how they source talent. A quick look back into the year uncovers four major trends:

• The pertinent shift in the industry from the traditional time and material (T&M) billing model (billing on a per-person, per-hour basis) to fixed-price proportions (revenue independent of employee addition) has also disrupted hiring and this will continue
• As a result of abundant labour and predictable demand, campus hiring may continue to dent as more and more companies resort to “just-in-time hiring”. As opposed to hiring entry and junior level staff, companies in India are increasingly looking to hire experienced professionals who would hit the ground running from day one
• Infrastructure limits and scarcity of land in tier-1 IT cities has led to expansion towards smaller cities and semi-rural towns over the last few years. Venturing into these locations also helps companies in rural sourcing to stay ahead and meet the ever growing talent war
• Social Media will become more pervasive. Recruiters have been leveraging social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to screen potential hires and gain access to a larger applicant pool, even as recruitment portals and RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) firms expand their presence

Game Changers

• Technology has the potential to disrupt traditional recruitment models and provide change the way companies find, assess and recruit their future talent. Major impact will come from how we utilise data and leverage mobility
• Like markets, companies should also analyse data to reach the talent pool. Investing in market research to determine the best recruiting methods along with strengths in recruiting with hard data will help make the best hiring decisions
• Optimising recruiting efforts for mobile devices is also becoming increasingly more important as jobseekers increasingly use mobile devices to find jobs

Compensation Trends

The average salary increment in the IT Services and Solutions sector is expected to be marginally lower than last year, but the average variable pay per cent will see a slight increase.         

Skills in Demand

• Demand for technical talent, not just from the technology sector but more broadly across the entire economy, will remain high
• With social media exploding, cloud computing making deeper inroads and mobile technology becoming a necessity, we will see a pressing need for employees with skills in data programming or administration and  mobile development
• As more enterprise information goes online via the cloud, skill-sets in security will be in demand too 

Emerging Skill-Sets

UST Global is making significant investments in accentuating its SMAC [social media, mobility, analytics, and cloud] capability to transform customers’ operations. We have programs in place where we train/cross train resources on specific technologies which are aligned to industry trends.

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5 of the Best Android Apps Amazon‘s Giving Away For Free

 As they've done before, Amazon's App Store is having a blowout on some fantastic Android apps this weekend. The Everything (App) Store is offering over $135 worth of apps for zero dollars-27 apps, entirely free. Here's the best of the temporary freebies:

• Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, normally a whopping $42
• Threes!, the addictingly awesome number puzzle game, normally $2
• SketchBook Pro, Autodesk's deeply functional paint and sketch program, usually $5
• Swype Keyboard, which will spoil you into never tap-tap-tap typing again, a $4 value
• Alarm Clock+, a robust alarm clock, world clock, timer, and more, normally $1

Of course, given that this is a free app giveaway, you could very well just download all 27 and see which ones you like the most. First, you'll need the Amazon Appstore App for Android, which comes pre-installed on the Kindle Fire and gives you access to Amazon's frequent Android app deals. Here's how to install it:

Go to Settings and navigate to Unknown sources option (which is under Applications or Security, depending on your device). If Unknown sources is unchecked, tap the checkbox and hit OK.

Then, head to this link to get the app. When the app's downloaded, open your notifications and then tap the file called AmazonApps-release.apk. Tap install, then tap open and you're done. Phew! Now go get some free stuff. [Amazon]

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How Much Access Facebook Employees Have to Your Account

Answer by Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer at Facebook, on Quora.

I’m Facebook’s Chief Security Officer and I oversee data security at the company. Thanks for the question. We take our role as stewards of people’s information very seriously and have invested heavily in protecting the data trusted to us.

There is no “skeleton key.” In fact, we have advanced internal tools that restrict access to information to only those employees who need it to do their jobs (e.g., investigating user reports).

There is a cross-functional group of employees who work on these safeguards and appropriate access to these tools.

Most employees do not have access and, those who do, must sign an agreement and complete a training program before using our internal tools. Finally, we track the actions performed through internal tools.

Each use is logged and requires the employee to explain the purpose of his or her use, and we audit all of this regularly.

Neither Mark nor any other senior executive at the company has tool access granted, because they do not have roles in the company where access would be necessary.

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Apple, Google: Your New Privacy Policies Are Making People Less Safe

 
The FBI has not taken kindly to new smartphone security measuresenacted by Apple and Google, which will encrypt data deeply beyond the reach of law enforcement officials -- even those in possession of a legal search warrant.

In tapping the vast pool of emails, messages, call logs, photos and more that reside on most smartphones, police are able to resolve life-threatening crimes -- including murder, child pornography and potential terrorist attacks -- that would likely otherwise go unresolved, said FBI director James Comey in a briefing with reporters yesterday.

Nevertheless, Apple’s new version of iOS 8 and Google’s latest mobile operating system, Android L, will prevent anyone other than a device’s owner from accessing this potentially fertile trove.

“Apple will become the phone of choice for the pedophile,” John Escalante, chief of detectives for Chicago’s police department, told The Washington Post. “The average pedophile at this point is probably thinking, I’ve got to get an Apple phone.”

"What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law," Comey added.

Though Apple says its new encryption policies aim to protect victims of iPhone theft and not thwart investigations, the FBI has reached out to both companies to make its concerns known, according to the Post.

The new operating systems call into question the evolving notion of privacy in a digital age. Amid widespread repudiation of mass NSA surveillance and outrage over incessant data breaches and hack attacks, some say that the new smartphone encryption measures are shortsighted.

“The outrage is directed at warrantless mass surveillance, and this is a very different context,” Orin Kerr, a former Justice Department computer crimes lawyer told the Post. “It’s searching a device with a warrant.”

Despite being barred from smartphones themselves, the FBI will still have access to certain data, notes the Post. Officials can still obtain call and text records from cellphone carriers, listen in on live conversations and determine suspect location based on cell towers. They can also access an array of information through the cloud, where smartphone users frequently back up the data from their devices.

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iPhone 6 in India: Offline retailers threaten boycott

Some mobile phone retailers have threatened to boycott Apple's much-awaited iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models after their expected pre-Diwali launch because they are miffed that the iPhone 5S is being offered at heavily discounted prices on popular e-commerce sites Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.

According to sellers that ET spoke to, some of the 1.5 lakh retailers claimed they have returned their iPhone 5S models, saying they can't compete with the discounts, which have lowered the price of the device to less than their cost. "All over India, there is a huge uproar and heartburn among retailers against online sellers since their business and reputation is being lost," said Subhash Chandra, managing director of retail store chain Sangeetha Mobiles, adding that offline sellers were adversely affected as customers were increasingly going online.

A top executive at another retailer told ET that if things stay as they are, he would neither display nor sell the Apple iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

Apple products are distributed in India by Redington and Ingram Micro. ET could not independently confirm whether retailers had returned iPhone 5S models. Apple didn't respond to e-mailed queries seeking comment. An executive close to dealings at Apple India said the company hasn't authorised marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal to sell iPhones in India. Infibeam is the sole authorised online seller for iPhones while Flipkart is authorised to sell iPads and iPods.

The emergence of online retailing and its pricing benefits and the rift created with traditional sales channels exists in other global markets as well.In India, where the online retail growth story has only just begun, about 12-14% of mobile phone sales are being diverted from offline retailers on a monthly basis, according to research firm Convergence Catalyst. This will only increase as internet penetration spreads and e-commerce grows.

"There is unrest among retailers, as even brands are supporting online," said Satish Babu, founder of retail store chain UniverCell Mobiles.

Titu Tanwani, one of the largest distributors of mobile phones in Jaipur, told ET that many retailers had decided to stop selling iPhones as they were facing massive flak from consumers who are able to buy the devices online at much lower prices.

"The price difference is as high as Rs 11,000 on some models. Apple is liquidating stocks of the older models," he said, alleging that the company was doing so in anticipation of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch expected next month. He added that state trade associations, such as that of Rajasthan, were protesting against the brands.

E-commerce sites show that the 16GB iPhone 5S, the highest-selling model for the company in India this year, on offer at between Rs 34,000 and Rs 36,000, as much as 36% less than the original retail price of Rs 53,500. The 16GB iPhone 5S is available on Amazon for Rs 33,999.

Tanwani added that retailers were also rallying against local handset makers. The retailers are threatening to boycott Micromax, Spice and Karbonn, which have launched devices backed by Google's Android One platform exclusively online. Google has partnered with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to sell Android One smartphones priced between Rs 6,299 and Rs 6,499, exclusively on the three e-commerce sites. Spice didn't respond to ET's queries at the time of writing.

"To ensure convenient access to our devices, our distribution strategy is a judicious mix of both traditional and new-age sales channels. Retailers continue to be the lynchpin of our distribution nexus and we would continue to expand our retail network in the future," Karbonn said in a statement.

A Micromax company spokesperson said all distribution channels will coexist but consumers should have the choice to buy from any platform they choose. "India is a huge market and, hence, different channels are developing to serve the various consumer segments. As part of our tactical promotions, we might choose a partner for a particular activity but our strategic intent is a balanced approach towards all sales channels."

A senior executive from a large-format retail chain told ET that he had returned his Apple phones to distributors in protest, adding that they cannot compete with prices offered online. "We will be talking to the brands individually, but I won't hesitate to boycott a brand if I am being treated unfairly." Several large-format retailers, including UniverCell, Sangeetha Mobiles, The Mobile Store and Spice's Hot Spot, have created an informal association that is trying to sort out the situation and will be speaking to consumers and the government on the matter, which they say threatens their survival.

However, the existence of e-commerce stores and competition from them are a reality that none of the retailers can ignore, said The Mobile Store's chief executive Himanshu Chakravarti.

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With 80,000 more, Accenture equals TCS in staff strength

Accenture is now back on par with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in terms of headcount, after the New York-based information technology company hired 80,000 people in the financial year ended August 31.

At the end of its fourth quarter, Accenture employed 3,05,000 people, while TCS reported 3,05,431 people on its rolls at the end of June. TCS had outstripped Accenture in terms of headcount last year. The Indian company will report updated headcount figures when it releases its second-quarter results in October.

TCS is increasingly being compared with Accenture, as analysts say the Mumbai-headquartered company now operates on a different level from the rest of its India-based rivals, particularly in terms of sales and delivery effectiveness. But the company still lags Accenture in certain metrics such as revenue productivity. Accenture posted revenue of $30 billion in its financial year, while TCS reported $13.4 billion.

But the increasing headcount levels are a double-edged sword in the IT industry, where large employee numbers often induce a slowdown in growth. However, analysts are expecting TCS to buck that trend. "TCS has made scale and asset an ally in its impressive journey so far... Accenture has noticeably slowed down on revenue growth in the last couple of years as its workforce crossed 250,000 employees," Viju K George, analyst with JPMorgan, said in a July note.
Accenture is also bulking up its digital unit. The company said the unit was now big enough to break out revenues separately and had posted revenue of $5 billion in FY14, a jump of 17% from the previous year.

"Our sense is this is an area of competitive advantage for the company with healthy bill rates and supportive budgets. Importantly, cross selling into the chief marketing officer expands Accenture's addressable market substantially," James Friedman, analyst at US brokerage Susquehanna Financial Group, said in a note. Accenture said its digital unit now has 28,000 employees, up from 23,000 when it set up the unit in December. TCS does not break out headcount numbers for its digital unit.

But CEO N Chandrasekaran has said TCS' digital business will generate at least $5 billion in revenue in the next 4-5 years and that it was growing faster than the rest of the company. "They are close in some ways but they have a lot of catching up to do in revenue and productivity. Accenture benefits from having a strong consulting backbone that TCS is currently building," an analyst with a Mumbai-brokerage said.

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Google Tightening Control on Android Manufacturers

 
Google wants to limit manufacturers’ say in what gets pre-installed on Android-powered technology, according to a new report.

Take Samsung, the most successful Android OEM — its Galaxy models operate on Android, but many of the apps are Galaxy-specific. The Information reports that it has viewed confidential documents revealing some added requirements to Google contracts to limit some of this customization by Android partners.

Google wants a greater emphasis on its search engine, more pre-installed apps and more control on app placement and prominence.

Other companies singled out in the report include HTC and Huawei Technologies.

Google has a supposedly touchy relationship with Samsung. Reports have outlined Samsung’s desire for more customization clashing with Google’s wish for greater control of its mobile platform. For one example, Samsung agreed earlier this year to tone down its Android tweaks and app customization at Google's behest, according to Re/Code.

In July, The Information also reported that Google and Samsung had a dispute oversmartwatches. Samsung wanted to incorporate its operating system Tizen into more of its wearables, focusing less on Android products. Google wasn't pleased.

It remains to be seen what manufacturers may be most affected, but Android users could be seeing even more Google on their handhelds as time goes on.

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Latest Standing: World's 100 Most Innovative Companies

 Innovation rankings shouldn’t be a popularity contest with editors throwing darts at the wall. Our method relies on investors’ educated hunches as to which firms will continue to create profitable new growth. This is captured in an Innovation Premium (IP), the difference between a firm’s enterprise value and a net present value of cash flows from its existing businesses (based on analysis from Finstra Consulting in collaboration with Innovators DNA and using data and a proprietary valuation model from Holt, a division of Credit Suisse). This year’s list is a diverse stew of luxury goods, retailers, food staples, engineering and IT services. One-quarter of the companies are from Asia, but the US dominates the list. Companies need seven years of public financial data (and $10 billion in market cap) to make the list, which is why some obvious candidates such as Facebook and Tesla Motors are not on it this year. Spoiler alert: Tesla will likely be number one next year (its IP is 80 percent) unless it really falls of a cliff over the next five months. We require a threshold of R&D spending so banks don’t make the cut. Nor do energy and mining firms, whose market value is tied more to commodity prices than to innovation. One big caveat is that our method does not correlate with subsequent investor returns because today’s value already incorporates these expected improvements in financial performance.

Rank	Company	Country	12-Month Sales Growth (%)	5-Year Annualized Total Return (%)	Innovation Premium* (%)
1	Salesforce.com	United States	35.6	24.1	75.9
2	Alexion Pharmaceuticals	United States	46.7	46.2	71.4
3	ARM Holdings	United Kingdom	14.8	37.7	65.6
4	Unilever Indonesia	Indonesia	12.0	26.6	65.1
5	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	United States	43.6	67.0	64.7
6	Amazon.com	United States	22.3	19.5	62.4
7	BioMarin Pharmaceutical	United States	20.2	25.7	58.9
8	CP All	Thailand	71.6	33.7	57.8
9	VMware	United States	15.0	17.6	57.6
10	Aspen Pharmacare Holdings	South Africa	-	31.3	57.1
11	Vertex Pharmaceuticals	United States	-36.6	18.0	56.8
12	Red Hat	United States	15.8	12.1	56.4
13	Hermès International	France	-	24.7	55.7
14	Hindustan Unilever	India	8.2	21.4	54.7
15	Monster Beverage	United States	10.6	29.8	54.1
16	The Priceline Group	United States	28.9	41.0	52.5
17	Rakuten	Japan	14.6	14.0	51.9
18	Marriott International	United States	2.1	21.9	51.7
19	Fastenal	United States	8.9	20.6	50.9
20	Chipotle Mexican Grill	United States	23.2	46.8	50.5
21	Stericycle	United States	14.3	16.6	50.1
22	Cerner	United States	13.9	20.0	49.6
23	Coloplast	Denmark	5.5	40.8	49.6
24	Henan Shuanghui Investment	China	11.0	5.4	49.6
25	Tingyi Holding	China	11.5	3.8	48.6
26	Hengan International Group	China	-	9.9	48.2
27	AmBev	Brazil	9.8	21.6	47.9
28	Express Scripts	United States	-	9.4	47.8
29	Iliad	France	-	20.6	47.3
30	Netflix	United States	24.0	51.4	47.2
31	Baidu	China	23.7	35.1	46.5
32	MasterCard	United States	13.7	24.5	46.2
33	Starbucks	United States	11.0	29.4	45.6
34	Whole Foods Market	United States	8.3	23.5	45.6
35	Fanuc	Japan	8.8	16.8	44.1
36	Illumina	United States	26.8	41.5	43.7
37	Tencent Holdings	China	40.4	27.3	43.1
38	Novozymes	Denmark	5.2	21.5	43.1
39	SBA Communications	United States	19.4	25.0	43.0
40	Unicharm	Japan	25.4	16.9	42.6
41	Li & Fung	Hong Kong	-	-5.6	42.6
42	Kone	Finland	6.2	20.4	42.4
43	Intuitive Surgical	United States	-12.2	4.8	42.4
44	Keurig Green Mountain	United States	7.1	35.1	42.3
45	Perrigo	Ireland	13.9	30.3	42.3
46	Fast Retailing	Japan	25.6	15.2	42.1
47	Reckitt Benckiser Group	United Kingdom	-1.7	11.7	40.6
48	Brown-Forman	United States	5.0	25.0	40.6
49	Essilor International	France	-	13.9	40.6
50	Bureau Veritas Registre International de Classific	France	-	19.7	40.6
51	Luxottica Group	Italy	0.5	20.0	40.5
52	Beiersdorf	Germany	1.2	9.9	40.4
53	Naver	South Korea	-2.0	23.7	40.1
54	Estée Lauder Cos	United States	6.2	26.5	40.0
55	Keyence	Japan	24.5	20.2	39.7
56	Dassault Systemes	France	2.3	20.1	39.6
57	Tata Consultancy Services	India	30.0	27.7	39.6
58	Larsen & Toubro	India	13.3	9.4	39.4
59	Dairy Farm International Holdings	Hong Kong	6.4	14.1	39.4
60	Capita	United Kingdom	15.2	11.4	39.1
61	Geberit	Switzerland	6.0	14.0	38.9
62	Jeronimo Martins	Portugal	7.2	12.5	38.9
63	Falabella	Chile	14.5	12.2	38.8
64	Grifols	Spain	10.7	26.6	38.7
65	Sun Pharma Industries	India	42.4	37.8	38.3
66	Starwood Hotels	United States	-2.4	19.9	37.8
67	Diageo	United Kingdom	-	14.3	37.3
68	Roper Industries	United States	11.6	23.1	37.1
69	Pernod Ricard	France	-	9.5	37.0
70	Lindt & Sprungli	Switzerland	-	17.2	36.9
71	AmerisourceBergen	United States	34.9	24.2	36.5
72	Coca-Cola	United States	-3.0	11.2	35.8
73	SGS	Switzerland	-0.1	13.2	35.8
74	H&M	Sweden	14.2	11.4	35.8
75	Oriental Land	Japan	13.4	25.4	35.5
76	Paychex	United States	8.3	10.5	35.0
77	Colgate-Palmolive	United States	0.9	13.6	34.9
78	Ecolab	United States	13.6	21.1	34.8
79	Anheuser-Busch InBev	Belgium	9.3	19.2	34.6
80	Hershey	United States	6.2	24.5	34.3
81	Autodesk	United States	0.3	16.9	33.9
82	Inditex	Spain	4.7	23.4	33.7
83	Grupo Bimbo	Mexico	2.5	14.0	33.7
84	Procter & Gamble	United States	0.0	9.3	33.7
85	Yahoo Japan	Japan	10.1	11.5	33.7
86	Danone	France	-3.4	7.8	33.6
87	ST Engineering	Singapore	4.0	7.7	33.6
88	Inner Mongolia Yili	China	13.2	21.2	33.5
89	Sodexo	France	-2.2	16.8	33.2
90	Kuehne + Nagel	Switzerland	-1.6	6.4	33.2
91	General Mills	United States	0.8	11.7	33.1
92	BRF	Brazil	2.5	20.8	33.0
93	Assa Abloy	Sweden	10.1	22.6	32.8
94	Nidec	Japan	21.9	10.0	32.5
95	Walmex - Wal-Mart de Mexico	Mexico	1.9	4.2	32.4
96	Bajaj Auto	India	-	22.7	31.7
97	Experian	Ireland	1.8	14.1	31.6
98	Clorox	United States	-0.6	12.3	31.5
99	Sherwin-Williams	United States	10.4	28.5	31.4
100	Digi.Com Berhad	Malaysia	5.9	27.4	31.3

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